Player of the Year Joe Sanger, left, and Coach of the Year Chris Jones, right, helped lead Windsor to the Northern Conference title in 2012. / Don Reichert/For The Coloradoan

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Joe Sanger

Career record: 23-3 (2011 3A state champion) Career total rush yards: 2,768 Career touchdowns: 48

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In the current era of wide-open, gun-slinging offenses, the prototypical star quarterback is someone who runs a spread offense and throws the ball around the field, putting up absurd numbers.

Windsor quarterback Joe Sanger certainly put up huge numbers in his high school career, but it was from the old-school style. Sanger didn’t throw much, rather he ran a lethal triple option at Windsor that averaged 324 rush yards per game in 2012.

Sanger, a two-year starter, not only racked up huge individual numbers, but his team accomplishments were outstanding as well.

In his two seasons as a starter, he went 23-3, won a Class 3A state championship, was a Tri-Valley all-conference player as a junior, and an all- Northern Conference player as a senior. He was also named the Northern Conference’s Player of the Year in 2012.

For his stellar play in leading the Windsor to the this year’s second round of the Class 4A state playoffs, Sanger has been named the Coloradoan’s Northern Colorado All-Area Player of the Year for 2012.

He is quick to deflect praise onto his teammates.

“I just know that it’s a team sport and that I couldn’t do it on my own,” Sanger said. “I have all the guys around me to thank for that.”

Windsor coach Chris Jones said Sanger wanted to play as a sophomore, but they decided to hold him another year. Then in the offseason before his junior year he dedicated himself in the weight room and was ready to take the helm.

As a senior he was tasked with leading a team from 3A to 4A. He didn’t miss a beat, rushing for 1,468 yards and 19 touchdowns. For his career he had 2,786 rush yards and accounted for 48 total touchdowns. While he didn’t pass often, he had 12 career touchdown passes compared to only six interceptions.

With being tasked as the decision-maker in a complicated option offense, Jones said that Sanger made the right read virtually every time. And if something didn’t work, he would never lay blame on a teammate.

“The No. 1 thing that I will always remember and respect about that young man, he would come off and say ‘my fault,’ whenever something went wrong,” Jones said. “It might be a play that came in and he heard it one way and called it another, or if he made a misread he’d come off and go ‘that’s my fault, coach.’ He looked you right in the eye. He wouldn’t look down or turn away.”

His competitive football career is now over, Sanger will attend Colorado State University starting next fall. Also a lacrosse player, Sanger said he may consider playing club lacrosse at CSU, but he will always cherish his time on the football field at Windsor.

“It was definitely one of the best times of my life, I’ll always remember it,” Sanger said. “It’s definitely bittersweet that it’s over. It’s just always going to be a great memory, and I’m just glad I got to have the experience.”